


Connection Lost

by Sylverstia



Series: Chronological Order [42]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Undercover Missions, android body horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-09-25 01:46:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20368603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylverstia/pseuds/Sylverstia
Summary: Thrown into an undercover mission, Gavin is helpless as his partner is slowly but steadily falling apart right in front of him.Adamant not to blow their cover both of them hit their limits in ways they never thought possible.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Why do i always write so much when i have deadlines....  
*sigh*
> 
> Anyway, multi. Yet again. Might finish this in 3. might need 5, i don't know yet.
> 
> Enjoy it anyway~ Leave a comment if you have any thought about it, i'm curious about it. :D

The building looked intimidating when Cory first saw it. Gavin had intentionally taken a route that brought them right past it, as they were on their way to the two-room apartment, they would stay in for the next few weeks.

However long this investigation would take.

It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, although it had been forever, since Gavin had been assigned a case where he actually had to use his skills as a detective.

Undercover work was still the best part about this job, sometimes. It was almost like a vacation. A new place, a new life, even if it was just for a bit.

Emma would love this. Too bad she was staying with Tina for now.

“And this is… where we will be at for the duration of the case?”

Gavin nodded. There was a suspicious number of workers who had died under mysterious circumstances. All of them in their homes, and all of them with a concerning lack of evidence as to why they died.

All of them had been healthy, mid to late thirties, women, men, androids. The only thing they had in common was that they worked at the same company.

Why Fowler had chosen him for this, he had no idea. Maybe because Ben was too caught up with eating Donuts, Hank still worked android related cases, and everyone else wasn’t skilled enough for this. Somehow it felt nice to be recognized for his skills, even when Gavin knew that Fowler most likely chose him for this, because he was the only available option.

The Tradon & Merce Insurance company was quite big, apparently, now that Gavin had looked into it. He didn’t know much about it. It had been founded in 2021, risen up significantly and had their headquarters in the outskirts of Detroit.

It wasn’t important. They had made it into the system via a contact. A bit of talking and convincing and both of them had been given jobs there.

Gavin couldn’t shake the feel that this was too easy. That their contact was biased and would backstab them eventually. To that contact, he was just a man from Chicago who had travelled the world for years and had quite the impressive resume.

The detective had laughed out loud when Fowler presented him with the forged life, he would be living for the next few weeks.

It was too perfect.

He had to be perfect. Flawless. Suit. Tie. Clean shaven.

Even the car wasn’t his own. A perfect black sportscar- what brand was it again?

As he pulled up to the drive in the perfect little bungalow looking like it had just sprung up from the late 50’s with a perfect front-yard full of well-groomed flowers and bushes, he was close to call it off.

“Your stress levels are quite high, Gavin.”

Gavin scoffed at the remark. Cory was forced to act as a body guard. This was how it was stated in the contract. The android needed to download specific software to be_ perfectly able to accommodate the needs to the company _otherwise **it** would have had to bugger off.

“This whole thing stinks.”

“Does it?” Cory wondered aloud when Gavin stopped the car in the drive and fumbled with the keys for a moment before the automatic Garage door just magically opened.

He did not miss the round of yellow in Cory’s LED as that happened.

He pulled the car into the garage and shook his head. “Trust your gutfeel. That’s one of the first things you learn as a cop.”

“And what does your gutfeel say?” Cory opened the car door and stepped out.

Gavin hated the way they made the android dress and style himself. They let him keep the long hair but it was now sleeked back into one of the greasiest pony tails Gavin had ever seen. He looked like such an asshole.

Almost everything about him was a light grey too. The dress shirt, the tie, even the suit. Of course. But marked with blue circles on the left front and the back. The new sign for androids the movement had agreed on earlier in the year.

It was less obnoxious, but still a marker. Still a reminder. It was almost as annoying as the labels on the DPD jackets that would flash in bright red colors when something was wrong with their system.

Although Cory’s ‘Connection Lost’ on the jacket was almost a running gag at the precinct now.

Gavin sighed deeply, steeled himself. They had to be in character. All the time.

Slowly he left the car, uncomfortable with the idea of treating Cory like a thing. He was supposed to be a rich fuck who had no regards to artificial life. It was a good thing his brother didn’t know about this. He’d have laughed at him.

Cory stood idly besides the car as Gavin closed the garage door and headed for the door that lead into the building. He had seen the blueprints of it, but seeing it in person was always different.

It was a nice little designer home— Gavin wasn’t sure who Fowler had bribed to get them this thing. As per protocol he made sure there were no cameras and no bugs. He upturned all lamp shades, felt around and under every edge, looked under every cabinet.

And found nothing.

“Det-“

“SH!” Gavin hissed at the android, gestured with both hands at himself and his overall looks.

Cory’s grimace was almost funny when he realized his mistake and quickly changed his whole aura. His posture stiffened, face flat. Emotionless. LED a calm blue.

Gavin swallowed. Just in case there were any bugs in here, he needed to have Cory scan the whole place. “RK900, Scan for foreign technology, anything, including external devices such as microphones and speaker. Compile a log and send it to my phone.”

He hated himself for this. It had been such a long time since he had treated android like shit. And Cory had grown on him. He wasn’t sure how long he could treat him like this. But that promotion was so close. If he could pull this off…

Was it worth that effort?

“This unit could not identify any objects such as those you have mentioned. There was however an open telephone line, that this unit has disconnected and disabled.”

Gavin blinked for a moment, then frowned, not quite sure what Cory wanted to tell him. “So, there was someone listening?”

“Not anymore.”

“Trace the call.”

“Already on it.”

Gavin slumped, hung his shoulders and deflated on the leather designer couch. It looked shitty expensive, but wasn’t very pretty. And uncomfortable.

“Fuck this is annoying.”

“I agree. I don’t like this.”

Gavin scoffed. “See? Gut feel.”

“I do not have a _gut_, but I think I understand what you mean now.”

Cory settled down next to him, pulling at the tie as if it was trying to choke him. “Stop.” Gavin sighed as he leaned over and hooked his index and middle finger into the loop of the garment. When he pulled it came lose and Cory stared at it as if he wanted to light it on fire.

“Not a tie person, huh?”

“…I’d like my own shirt back.”

Gavin grimaced, then shrugged. Cory had never really shown a need for comfort, always quietly enduring whatever shit life threw at him. He never complained, never got mad- unless Gavin really pushed him.

“Let’s say we wrap this up quickly and go back to our shitty apartment with the filthy cats.”

Cory nodded with a small smile. “…Can I ask a favor, Gavin?”

Gavin lifted an eyebrow. “What?”

“…Use my real name for every time you said my model number…”

The detective huffed. “…Sorry. You’ve never worked undercover before, huh?”

The android shook his head and pulled the hair-tie out of his hair. The hair had been so full of grease that the ponytail just stuck in place without the restraint and Gavin snorted at it.

“Usually it’s pretty boring. Most people don’t really give a shit about it. But look out for those who ask too many questions. They usually have something to hide.”

“Noted.” Cory sighed, shrugged out of the jacket and put it over the backrest of the couch. “…can I… shower this off?” he gestured to his hair; face scrunched up in disgust.

“Please. You look like a slime licked across your head.”

Cory frowned at the unknown reference and stood. “…The whole situation is… uncomfortable.”

“You’ll get used to it, tin can. As long as this fucking building isn’t bugged, lets do whatever the fuck we want in here.”

“I suggest you close the curtains then.” Cory muttered with a smirk as he left the room for the bathroom.

“I’m gonna hit you so hard your grandkids will feel it, Cory!”

“Join me then.” The android called from the bathroom. “And I can’t have grandkids.”

“Fucking watch me!” Gavin yelled back as he jumped over the couch and darted to the bathroom, only to have the door close into his face, with the shit eating grin of the android being the last thing he saw before he heard the door click and the lock turn.

“Asshole!”

“I wanted to shower.” Came the muffled reply from inside the room.

“And what do I do?”

“You haven’t eaten yet. Make yourself some breakfast.” The water turned on and the detective snarled at the closed door.

“Fine! But don’t say I didn’t want to, later.”

“Go eat, Gavin!”

“Fuck you!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Kieran and Sabrina for Beta reading this chapter :3  
You guys are awesome!

When they arrived at the building it was just past eight. The complex was mostly white, sterile. The inside almost pristine. Dark tiles, thin lines of teal and blue weaving across the walls. It looked like a dentist’s office. Determined to stay in character he ignored the experience and headed straight to where he was told his new boss would be at.

Probably a sleaze ball. Hidden inside a two-way mirrored office. Did anyone really not notice that these mirrors weren’t decoration? Did they not care?

Cory was close behind, stiff, silent. Unemotional. He had the pony tail in, but this time without all the grease. It looked way better. The suit was still off.

The office door slid open as soon Gavin has raised his fist to knock.

“The android stays outside.” A white-haired man told him with a smile that was faker than a three-dollar bill. He had his elbows on the desk, fingers interlaced and chin resting on them.

Fold rings on his fingers, a fire in his blue eyes. It set Gavin’s alarms off immediately. Cory stayed outside the office, as ordered and the door closed when Gavin had fully entered.

“Good morning Mister Hayes.” His boss for the time being greeted him without moving. The name tag identified him as Mister Arrington, CEO of the company.

“Good morning, Mister Arrington.” Gavin acknowledged with a nod.

Mindful to keep his disguise up he kept the stiff posture and waited until the man offered him a seat. Instead of slumping down he sat straight, hands folded in his lap. He resisted the urge to look at Cory who had positioned himself in front of the two-way mirror. Intention or not, it was relieving to have the android in sight.

“Your office is on floor 37, Nadine will be your assistant. Your android will not be allowed to wander through the building unless attended by you or a superior. It is required to accept orders from everyone that outranks it.”

Rage pooled in Gavin’s stomach. How delusional was this asshole to completely ignore the whole revolution?

“Understood.”

“It will also not be allowed to listen to private conversations, such as this.” The voice of the man dipped as he moved over to the phone and pressed a button. “Run a check through the network, Jessica. And kick that RK900 out of the network.”

Gavin watched helplessly as Cory flinched seconds later, unaware of the sudden break in connection.

“I understand that it is your personal guard, however, this company does not tolerate snooping of any kind. You stay in your business.”

“Of course.”

The man nodded. “I am glad we came to an agreement. Please take your leave now. Nadine will have all your instructions.” He gestured to the door. “Welcome to the job.”

As Gavin left the office he wondered if this had gone too easily. He’d snooped around as a Romanian drug lord in much filthier environments, but this was out of his comfort zone.

Misbehaving assholes he could pull off. But well-groomed ass-kissers was not his forte.

When he joined Cory, he noticed heat radiating from him. Yet when he wanted to ask if he was alright, he noticed a security camera and had to fall back into character.

“RK900, run a system check and report if the attack caused any damage.” He said instead.

Cory’s LED did a few rounds of yellow as they walked through the hall and to the elevator. “Negative. All systems functional.”

Gavin didn’t acknowledge the statement, even when he wanted. The security here was tight. Cameras everywhere and he wasn’t sure if voice files were recorded or not. Cory was most likely not willing to venture back into the system.

They had to roll with it for now.

When they reached floor 37, an android was waiting for them. Young looking, black hair in a tight ponytail, dark eyes. Contoured make up that would put teenagers of 2019 to shame. The nametag on her gray uniform identified her as Nadine.

“Mister Hayes.” She addressed him with half a bow. “Please follow.”

Not a deviant, he realized. Or hiding it well.

The office was quiet, mostly because the cubicles were glass and had doors. At least he had the illusion of privacy in here. “You are required to turn off your cellphone and leave it outside your office. Your android is not to accompany you into your office unless you need it to fulfil tasks.” Nadine explained.

“If you have questions please refer to Nadine. Her number is saved to the telephone on your desk. That is all. Have a good day.”

With that she took her leave. Weirded out was an understatement to how Gavin felt at that moment. Sure, Cory referred to himself in third person too, but he never said his own name. It was beyond creepy.

Cory had his schooled expression of distance, of something not quite being there. It irked Gavin. Cory’s eyes had always been cool and distant, but Gavin had seen the fire in them.

Seeing them so dead was unnerving.

The office was small, but had a big window, walls white. Bare. There was a desk in the middle, screen facing away from the door, but directly into the overhead security camera. Another one was pointing at the opposite wall, completely surveying the room. Nothing could get past it.

“RK900, reposition the desk so the screen faces the window.” Gavin instructed. He still hated him self for talking like this to Cory.

Cory moved without a word or glance at the detective. He pushed the desk with ease arranged it in a way that both of them knew the cameras wouldn’t get a clear angle at.

The view overlooked the Detroit river, so that at least was a decent excuse as to why he had the desk moved. There was no other reason to keep Cory in the room then, but he noticed that there was a bookshelf, haphazardly thrown with Electric magazines of varying sizes, names and colors.

“Arrange the tablets by name, color and size.” He instructed the android and settled down at the desk.

His job here was to analyze data and file it correctly. He didn’t really think it was a job that required this level of office space, but he’d take it. Arranging the shelf was only really done to keep Cory with him as long as possible.

It was almost painful to be unable to banter with his partner.

So far, he had his suspicions about the CEO, and the lack of other employees. Although he had most likely just not seen them yet. There was a brochure on the desk, explaining work ethics and how the office worked, but none of this was particularly of interest.

All the cameras bugged him.

After a few minutes of aimlessly clicking and filing things on his terminal, Cory took his leave and stood outside the glass door. Then, another few minutes after that, Nadine came back and spoke to Cory. Seconds later both of them were moving down the hall. Gavin jumped from his seat and ripped the door open.

“Hey!” he yelled before he could stop himself. “The android stays here.”

“I was ordered to accompany this unit to Mister Arrington.”

This whole thing seemed fishy. What company needed such nosy employees? Gavin suppressed a growl and followed them.

“Alone.” Nadine insisted.

“This unit is property of Mister Hayes.” Cory responded. “He has full authority over this unit and can override all commands given by other units.”

It was a hint. A hint for Gavin to realize what he had to do.

“RK900, cancel the order and move back to your spot.”

“Affirmative.”

Gavin’s heart was pounding when he headed back to his office. Just what the fuck did that bitch want with him? And what the fuck had the CEO to do with it?

Half an hour passed, before two other androids approached Cory. This time Gavin opened the office door, pulled Cory inside and locked it from the inside.

“You will not move from this spot until I tell you to.” Gavin hissed at him, both because he was fed up, and because he wanted to let Cory know that he was there. That he wouldn’t let anything happening to him.

There was a brief flash of light in the android’s eyes. A micro expression that could have been a _thank you_.

It was all show for the cameras. He knew he would need weeks to get used to not being watched when he was back at the DPD.

“Do you know what they want from you?”

“Negative.”

Gavin nodded, returned to his desk –and tried not to glance at Cory every five seconds. The android’s hands were curled into fists, trembling at his sides in what Gavin hoped wouldn’t be visible on the security footage.

The phone on his desk ringing startled him. Cory’s eye briefly flicked into his direction with a question, and Gavin dipped his head in a nod that could have been him just looking at the brochure on his desk before he picked up the phone.

“Hayes.” He muttered. It was an internal line. He wasn’t there long enough to have anyone know his presence here.

“Mister Hayes, I believe Nadine neglected to tell you that Androids are not supposed to stay in the office unless they need to do something there.”

The CEO. Gavin already hated him.

“It also didn’t tell me that it would try to steal _my_ property.”

A feigned chuckle on the other side. “Mister Hayes, Nadine was doing its job. All androids round up in the parking station on floor 17 to recharge while their owners do their job.”

“C-“ He cleared his throat, hoped the slip up wasn’t too obvious “The RK900 doesn’t need to charge.”

“Very peculiar.” The man sounded surprised. “Nevertheless, please refrain from keeping it in your office.”

“Of course.”

The call ended abruptly and Gavin closed his eyes for a moment. “RK900, guard the office.”

Cory unlocked the door and resumed his position at the glass windows, as Gavin explored the datafiles on the terminal.

As he had expected, there was nothing he could access that involved higher clearance. No doubt Cory would have been able to, but they could trace that apparently.

As the hours ticked by, Gavin decided to get a look around. The trek to the restrooms was closely followed by Cory and several security cameras, but much to his relief, the actual room had no visible cameras. But the mirror looked off, and when he tested it, it was another two-way mirror.

Cory came to the same conclusion with a spin of a yellow LED and crossed his arms over his chest. “I have detected microphones in the vicinity.”

He spoke as Gavin slammed a stall door shut. He refused to speak while he was being listened to, and silently took care of his business, washed his hands with more force than necessary and stomped out of the room, straight down the hall and to the elevator, with more cameras.

He punched the button of the ground floor, almost ran out the building and into the carpark. Cory entered the car the same time as he did, both doors closing at roughly the same moment.

“…This is shit!” he screamed at the windshield.

“Gavin-“

“I’m not calming down! What the fuck is this?!”

“This interaction is being recorded.”

Gavin groaned in frustration, started the car and drove out the carpark. He was strumming his fingers on the wheel as anger built higher and higher inside him.

“Why the fuck are we doing this?!”

“To figure out why all these people were killed. The CEO is already suspicious of you. It might give us a lead.”

“Fuck him. Fuck them. I hate treating you like this!” He continued shouting as he pulled into the parking space of a café

“I can take it, Gavin.” Cory muttered, but Gavin didn’t believe him.

He grabbed the android’s arm and pulled him closer, pressed a kiss into his hair. “…Don’t leave my side in that building. I don’t trust them.”

“I won’t.”

“You’re overheating, Cory.” It was barely a whisper, the need to say his partner’s name. He couldn’t even use the nickname they had given him before they used his real name at the DPD, when they were in that fucking building.

“It’s a minor glitch. It’s going to correct itself within the hour.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Gavin hissed. “You stay in the car.”

Cory nodded and Gavin rushed into the shop, returning minutes later with a sandwich and a coffee and scrambling back into the car. “I love you.” Gavin muttered into his cup.

A small smile appeared on Cory’s face. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For trying to keep me from harm.”

Gavin scoffed. “Let’s go back before they get suspicious. And find out when the office is quiet, and where the security keys are. Also get me the floorplans and emergency exit routes. And when the CEO isn’t there. And make a recording of me being in my office, though all cameras that can see into it.”

Cory nodded and the drive back to the office was spent in silence.

The shift only slowly creeped to an end and when Gavin and Cory exited the building six hours later, Cory was awfully quiet.

The whole ride home neither of them said anything, not when Gavin pulled the car into the garage and not when they entered the house. Only then, Gavin finally grabbed Cory’s arms and drew him into a hug.

The android was starting to tremble, LED casting a red tint onto a nearby wall as he wrapped his arms around the shorter man and held on to him for dear life.

“I know what you said, Cory.” Gavin whispered, “But if this gets too much for you, we’ll call it off.”

“You’ll risk your promotion this way.”

“I’m not risking you for a fucking accessory on my uniform and a pay raise. I think we’ve been past that point since the plane crash.”

“I can take it.” Cory repeated. “This is just new and I am inexperienced. I’ll try harder.”

Gavin sighed, shook his head. Everything about this was wrong. “You got that data I asked for?”

Cory gave him a sharp nod and drew away from the embrace. “I got everything except for the floorplans. They’re heavily encrypted and I do not have the necessary keys to decrypt them.”

Gavin sighed. “Fine. But I am not starting to snoop around without knowing where to hide. How do we decrypt them?”

“I asked Connor to build a decoder.”

“He can do that?”

Cory smiled at him. It stirred something in Gavin. The feeling of affection he had had for a while, but this reached deeper.

“He’s… more skilled in other fields than I am. I assume we are able to decode the files by noon tomorrow.”

“Good.” Gavin muttered, headed for the bedroom. “But fuck that damn case now. I’m going to bed.”

Cory nodded, standing still in the living room. The white wooden floorboards creaked as he shifted his weight and fixed his eyes on Gavin with a pleading gaze.

Gavin flashed him a short smirk and nodded to the bedroom as he held out one hand.

The android followed then, struggling out of his clothes as quickly as the stiff garments allowed and barely had the mind to throw them over a chair. Gavin threw a T-shirt at him and changed into more comfortable clothes.

“Tell you what, Cory,” Gavin started, voice now muffled as he pulled a white T-shirt over his head. “I’m not gonna last long in this either.”

“Why did you take the case?” Cory asked, voice devoid of judgement or accusation.

The android crawled under the sheets as Gavin flung his socks across the room. “My unbridled sense of justice?”

Cory smiled, stretched and sank his head into the pillow as Gavin joined him in the bed. “Ideally we’ll have a lead in two to three days.”

The detective inched closer to his partner, pulled him into his arms and held him tight. Cory sank into him without much resistance, one arm resting on Gavin’s chest, while the other grasped his shirt. His head quickly came to rest over the human’s heart.

Gavin pulled the comforter over them, then resumed his embrace and the lazy circles he had been rubbing into Cory’s back.

“Good night, Cory.” He whispered, noticed the android’s yellow LED transition back to blue has he entered stasis.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to  
[ Kieran ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clockworkcorvids) And  
[ Kian ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KianRai_Delcam)  
For betaing this chapter!

When Cory powered up from stasis at 6:31am he noticed that his cycle had needed one minute longer than it should have. This was disconcerting.

The other strange thing was that Gavin wasn’t next to him, and his system had not alerted him to the change. Why didn’t it do that. Gavin’s spot was still warm, sheets disturbed. He was most likely just using the bathroom.

But that wasn’t what made the android frown.

Why had his system act so unpredictably? Gavin would scoff, tell him he was just tired. But while one minute might not be a lot for a human, for Cory that could mean serious malfunctions somewhere.

He ran two diagnostics, but both came back clean.

Slowly, he made his way out of the bed, tangled in his sheets as if he had tossed and turned all night. That was unusual.

As he slowly opened the bedroom door, he could hear Gavin in the bathroom on the phone, voice agitated.

“I don’t fucking care, Jeff.” The human hissed. His voice was silent, but Cory picked up on the anger.

“No. No, listen to me. I know.” The person on the other end seemed to be arguing with Gavin. “Just, _listen_ to me.”

Cory knew Gavin hated it when he listened to his phone calls, but the probability of this being their captain was 97%. He wondered what Captain Fowler wanted to tell Gavin.

“You know I love being undercover. But Cory… he’s too inexperienced for this.”

Cory froze, thirium pump suddenly racing. No. Gavin didn’t honestly think that he was a nuisance in this case, did he?

He was inexperienced. Yes. But he could adapt! Over the past few months all he did was fail at his job and get damaged or nearly killed. There had been very little chance to prove that he could do his job.

He was determined to change it this time. He could prove that he was able to do this!

He retreated back into the bedroom, closed the door silently and crawled back into the sheets. He didn’t know what to do. This was his chance to prove that he was capable of such missions. Why didn’t Gavin give him a chance to prove it?

He willed himself to calm down. He could prove to the human that he was capable. He could push his own feelings aside for the sake of the case. Others could do that too. After the reset, he hadn’t been deviant for months. He could just go back to that state. Lock his feelings away and pretend nothing affected him emotionally.

When he finally managed to get his LED back to blue, Gavin opened the door, slipped into the room and crawled next to him.

“Hey, sleeping beauty,” the human whispered as he rested a hand on his shoulder. “We gotta get ready.”

Cory opened his eyes, pretending Gavin had roused him out of stasis. Gavin was smiling at him, but something was off. The man was stressed, still angered. Likely not at Cory but at their captain.

Cory assumed that Fowler had told him to stick to the plan and give the android a chance.

He could do that. He could pretend. Humans did that all the time.

When he sat up, Gavin was already changing into his clothes. His hair was damp, and the scent of soap wafted into the bedroom.

Cory would have preferred a shower, but androids weren’t required to do that. He wasn’t filthy. There was nothing he needed to wash off, yet the warm embrace of the water would have been welcomed.

He had been made for missions like these. He could do that. There was no need to indulge in human behavior. He had been fine without that before.

But when both of them sat in the car, and Gavin’s hand landed on his knee, Cory was filled with the almost overwhelming urge to let himself fall apart.

“Connor just sent me the decoded blueprints of the building.” He said instead, voice measured and as neutral as he could manage.

“Good. You got the other stuff too? I want to wrap this up as fast as possible.”

“Yes.” Cory nodded. “Plus, the location of all security cameras. The information we need is likely in the CEO’s office or any of the archives. The only place that is not being watched is the restrooms. But it’s being listened to.”

“Probably easier to hack the cameras than the microphones, huh?”

“There are vents going across the restrooms that are going over Arrington’s office. He leaves the office between 2 and 3 in the mornings, and we need his keycard to get into the building after he locked it.”

Gavin growled in frustration. “There’s gotta be a spare key.”

“If one exists it is likely not in the building. The man is very careful.”

“And obviously trying to hide something.”

“We need to find evidence before we can arrest him.” Cory reminded him.

Gavin rolled his eyes. “I know that, I’ve been doing this for a while.” He started the engine, almost hoping they would get involved in a crash or something so they didn’t have to go back there.

“Say we don’t go home tonight. How tight is security?”

“The androids owned by the company never leave the building. They patrol it all night.”

Gavin clenched his hands around the steering wheel in frustration. “Can’t you do this fancy shit Connor does?”

Cory shook his head. “Markus taught him how to do that. He hasn’t shared this knowledge with me.”

“Okay. That option is down then. Any suggestions?”

Cory was silent for a moment, before he replied, “The CEO locks the doors with the card. The only way to get it is to take it from him when he is unsuspecting. With the card we can get into all rooms.”

“So, he’s got the master key.” Gavin nodded to himself. “Who has the second closest rank to that?”

“Nadine. She can enter almost all floors except for the 17th floor, where the CEO is at.”

The detective snarled. “Why is this so fucking complicated?”

“Because it is only easy in movies.”

Gavin scoffed. “Do the vents fit a human?”

“Someone of your size, yes.”

“So, you won’t fit.”

Cory shook his head. “The weight of both of us might also be too much for the construction to handle.”

Gavin growled a curse under his breath as he pulled into the parking lot of the office. The drive here had been smooth and without any interruptions. There wasn’t even a traffic jam.

“Try to get her card. We’ll do this tonight if everything works out.”

“Got it.”

“And be careful.”

The android nodded and they entered the building.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [ Kian ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KianRai_Delcam) for betaing this chapter :D
> 
> And thank all of you for reading it and keeping me motivated with comments :D

Gavin felt this overwhelming sense of _wrong_ when he pulled into the parking lot of the building.

“I’m going to send you charging with the others. You’re taking Nadine’s card and we’ll pretend nothing happened. When my shift ends, you hack the cameras to make it look as if we left. And we’re hiding in the restrooms until the CEO leaves.” Gavin explained.

“You’re gonna disable the microphones until I made it to the vents. And that’s when you’ll disable the sections of cameras I’d get in the way of.”

Cory nodded, but seemed unsure about it. “Please allow me to connect to your phone so I can track your location.”

“Of course.”

Cory was guarding it, as per usual, yet without direct communication, he felt lost. This wasn’t how this was supposed to be. Often times he had a whole team behind him giving him instructions. Being so utterly alone in this was frustrating and terrifying in a way.

On top of the fact that Cory had all the data and he had seen none of it, he didn’t feel prepared at all. If this wouldn’t end in a mess, it would be a miracle.

“RK900,” Gavin eventually said, and waited until Cory entered the office, and took a deep breath to steel himself, “What’s your energy level?”

“Energy reserves at 45%.” Cory lied. “Charging is advised.”

“Go find that charging station. Report back when done.”

Gavin didn’t miss the unsure glance as Cory left the office. He couldn’t stop the feeling that he had sent his partner to his doom.

There was nothing he could do from here, couldn’t even get an update from his partner. His mind was drifting, constantly back and forth between the case and Cory. He knew Fowler didn’t like having romantic relationships within the precinct. It was distracting, compromised judgement. But so far no one knew about this, except for Cindy.

Cory appeared in front of his office an hour later. He had his arms crossed, a barely detectable tremble went through his frame, his hair messed up. It looked as if he had been in a struggle. What kind of struggle, Gavin couldn’t figure out, but he hoped it hadn’t drawn attention to them.

And he hoped he had gotten the card.

He spent 30 more minutes forcing himself to pretend he was doing his job before he couldn’t anyway. Cory had since leaned against the glassed wall of his office, his suit creased and somewhat strange looking. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

When he opened the door, Cory flinched.

“Why the fuck do you look like this?” Gavin hissed at him. The words burned on his lips. He hoped his message came across anyway.

“This unit has miscalculated an action. This will not happen again.”

Too cryptic. He had to roll with it. Pretending to be angry, rather than worried, he rushed down the hall to the elevator.

Cory followed his fast pace, almost ran into Gavin when the detective stopped in front of the elevator and pressed the button. They couldn’t do this today. Something was wrong and his gut feeling was going crazy.

When they entered the elevator, Gavin hesitated. The doors closed but he didn’t press a floor. “Do they voice record in here?” he mouthed at the android, out of sight of the camera.

“No.” Cory’s reply sounded strained. He was still crossing his arms and his LED had gone from a stuttering blue to a glaring yellow with sputters of red in between.

“Hack the camera. Make it look as if we’re getting off at the ground floor.” Gavin ordered.

“Done.”

Gavin nodded sharply, pressed floor 17 and sighed.

Once the elevator stopped, Cory played recordings of empty hallways into the cameras feeds until they had made it to the restroom. Gavin quickly realized that the layout of the room was the same as on his floor, only missing the two-way mirror.

“Microphones disabled. As are the cameras that are in here.”

“There’s cameras here?”

“Two. I am replaying the recording made five minutes prior.”

“Don’t get caught.” Gavin sighed. “You okay?”

Cory nodded, but it felt like a lie.

The thought of the hours until the CEO would leave, left Gavin insanely bored already. He settled down on the lid of a toilet and glared at the wall. Cory was leaning against the tiled wall, arms still crossed, gaze alert in a way that spoke for fear.

“You’re shaking.” Gavin muttered then, noticing the slight tremble in Cory’s frame yet again.

Cory tightened his grip around his arms. “I apologize-“

“You said you could handle it.”

“I can. I’m sorry-“

Gavin glared at him. “Pull yourself together.”

Cory’s sharp nod made him flinch. The android was a wreck, it didn’t take an expert to figure that out. And even when his LED was yellow, Gavin knew it wouldn’t take much now to make it red.

“Did something happen when you got that card?”

“She forced an interface.” Cory hissed, gaze turning away from Gavin to the tiled wall with the potted plant in the corner. “…You were right in your assumption that the CEO is responsible for the murders.” Cory continued. “But he isn’t doing it.”

Gavin felt a shiver prickling down his spine. Maybe other cops didn’t get this sense of hatred for humanity when their theories turned out right. But he did. “He’s using her, right?”

Cory nodded. “He’s concealing himself well enough in a way that wouldn’t frame him as the culprit. We need more evidence. Nadine is willingly helping him.”

“So, she’s deviant.” Gavin scoffed, leaned back against the water tank of the toilet. “Fucking hate when my hunches are right.”

“I haven’t seen you put things together like that before. That is quite impressive.”

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Come on anyone could have figured that out.”

“Maybe. But it makes you look better as a detective.”

The human leaned forward again. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I overheard part of your conversation with the Captain, this morning.”

An exaggerated sigh escaped the shorter man. “You’re not trained for this shit, Cory. It was fucking stupid of him to allow this.”

“I can-“

Gavin held up a hand. “I know you can. I can see it, but what if this shit doesn’t go to plan? What are you gonna do? Roll over and have a breakdown?”

Cory’s gaze snapped back at him. “Are you implying that I am incapable?”

“Let’s be honest,“ Gavin said as he stood and crossed his arms, eyes fixed on the android, “I can count on one hand all the cases you haven’t been overwhelmed, injured, broken down or otherwise been out of commission. I can’t rely on you.”

Cory’s mouth opened but no sounds escaped him. He looked so offended that Gavin almost laughed.

Instead, the android flung Nadine’s keycard at him and turned to leave. “Do this yourself then, if I’m so unreliable. Someone of your height wouldn’t even get up to the vents!”

“Cory!” Gavin hissed as the android made his way to the door. “This isn’t the fucking time to act like a kid in a candy store!”

The android turned; eyes furious. “I’ve been pushed around the whole time, forced to act as if I don’t care. You know what happened to me in the tower! You think it’s fun to be around androids that would attack me without a second thought if someone ordered them to?!” His voice cracked, fists shaking at his sides.

Gavin’s shoulders slumped, fight leaving him. “…I called Fowler to get us off this mission. Not because I thought you couldn’t handle it, but-“ he paused when Cory winced and went down on his knees, LED red, eyes wild as his breathing came in violent gasps.

“Ah fuck.” Gavin cursed, crouched down next to his partner.

“I’m-“ Cory hissed between gasps, clawed his hands into Gavin’s shirt, eyes squeezed shut. “I’m Sorry-“

Gavin scoffed. “Shut up. I wanted off this mission because I don’t like treating you like a thing… But now we’re here so we might as well go through with it.”

Cory gave him a short nod, but made no move to let go of him.

“Emotional overload or system?”

“System.” Cory muttered, breath stabilizing. He was overheating, but not as badly as Gavin had seen before. “Nadine pushed me into a wall when I took her card. We had a brief fight.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me about it sooner?!”

Cory slowly righted himself, sat up properly and stared at the tiled floor. “…Nobody will know about this until the morning.”

“Cory what the fuck happened?”

“I shut her down temporarily. She will reboot at six am. We should be done here by then.”

The detective sighed. “…Now you make me look like an incompetent ass.”

“You _are_ an ass.”

“Okay, okay. Stop.” Gavin hissed. “Are you okay now?”

“Yes. I apolog-“

“Stop. Just help me get into the vents.”

Cory slowly got back to his feet, picked up the keycard and handed it to Gavin. “I will send you directions to your phone. Answer through it. Don’t call me.”

“What, why?”

“You might be picked up by other microphones.”

“Fine.”

There was something in Cory’s eyes that made the detective suspicious, but when Cory helped him climb into the vent above the sinks, it was gone. Making a mental note to question it later, he pulled himself into the small space.

It was a small miracle that the vent managed to hold his weight and was big enough to move in it, at least as far as crawling went. Most vents he had seen couldn’t even fit a small child.

“Good thing I’m not scared of small spaces.” Gavin scoffed and blew dust bunnies away that had collected at the side of the vent.

A cloud of dust billowed up around him and he hid his face in the jacket of his suit. “Bad idea.” He hissed at himself and pushed along the small metal confinement to the first fork. They seemed to turn off the A/C unit at night, which was both good and bad.

He didn’t need to worry about being unable to cross through fans, but was also being caught in sweltering heat.

Cory guided him with text messages through the labyrinth of shafts, and he doubted he would find his way back on his own.

‘You’re almost there, take two rights, then a left, skip the next fork and you should see Arrington’s office.’

‘K.’ he replied and kept crawling.

It was stuffy in the vents; the dust didn’t help the horrible air. But the thought of being out soon was a distraction from his predicament.

When he reached the shaft directly over the office, he looked around for a moment. The lights from the hallway were shining into it and he was about to push against the opening, when all the lights suddenly went out.

With bated breath, he waited for something to happen. This was not planned. The whole floor seemed silent, but he knew better than to trust that fact. Something was wrong here. Silently he pushed himself backwards, jumped when his ankle brushed against the edge of a corner.

“Fuck.” He mouthed, tried to stay quiet as he unlocked his phone.

‘W’happened to lights’ he texted his partner and waited.

Ten seconds turned into a minute. Then Gavin was trying to calm his racing heart. Cory would reply directly from his processor. There would be no delay in reading and replying. Only if he was otherwise occupied.

“Shit…” he whispered.

Had Cory had another breakdown? Had he been caught? Cory made sure that the went was closed, so that no evidence could be found. At least not on first glance.

Should he turn back? But what about the evidence then. He was so close.

‘Answer me!’ he typed into his phone.

His message arrived, but wasn’t opened or read.

‘Cory!’

Deciding that it was too much of a risk to head into the office without knowing what had happened, he slowly pushed himself backwards. It was decidedly more effort as he couldn’t change his position, and had to backtrack through the messages he had had with Cory.

Why the fuck wasn’t he answering?!


	5. Chapter 5

Gavin realized he really didn’t like headaches when the harsh over-head lights of the room nearly blinded him. It was a dingy basement, from the looks of it. He was tied to a chair. –Duct taped to a chair.

What a sick idea. Useful, however. He hoped it wasn’t the industrial kind. That would hurt when it got ripped off. Well, more than the normal kind.

He blinked blearily against the feeling of cotton behind his eyes. His head was swimming, but he wasn’t feeling overly dizzy. He had no idea what was going on.

There were two figures on the far end, chatting with each other at a desk. Their backs turned towards him. A third figure too. In chains.

His stomach twisted before he had a name on his lips.

Cory.

For some reason the android was chained. To the wall. Like an animal. There was not a hair out of place on him, but he wasn’t moving either. His LED was red. Pulsing rapidly. He was online at least.

That was good.

His phone was on the floor, in sight. Almost in a display of mockery. It wasn’t really his, just a stupid decoy so they wouldn’t be traced back to the DPD. Which, as it turned out was a fucking mistake.

Now they were sitting ducks.

How did that all even happen? How did he end up here?

But as he tried to remember how he had gotten here, he couldn’t. his mind was blank from when he entered the vents until now. What had they been doing there?

The female figure elbowed the man next to her. “He’s awake.”

The man turned around. Arrington. His grin was disgusting. “You see, mister Hayes,” Arrington began, “There’s been a serious breach of security. And I don’t like having people snoop about my company.”

Gavin didn’t listen to him. He tried to peek past him to see what was going on with Cory. The android hadn’t moved a hair in the few minutes Gavin had been awake.

“And I am sure you didn’t find anything of worth anyway, but just in case-“ The man grabbed a gun from somewhere behind Gavin.

Another display of mockery? Having a weapon so close to him, yet unreachable? When the barrel pointed at his head, Cory finally gave a reaction. He jolted against the restraints, but the attempted seemed weak and uncoordinated. Whatever they had done to him, the had gotten him good.

“Ah, programmed it to protect its master.” Arrington laughed. “A well-trained puppet can be dangerous. Nadine?” The man prompted.

The female figure finally peeled away from the desk and revealed a full array of strange looking beakers. Chemicals, Gavin realized. What they were for, he didn’t want to find out.

“You see, Nadine and I found out that you programmed your android with pain receptors.” Arrington muttered as Nadine approached. “Now, it’s not my business to pry into my employees’ private enjoyments, but what would a man so invested in software want with my company?”

Gavin lifted an eyebrow. So, after fucking up, Arrington still had the wrong idea. Had he really not noticed that both of them worked for the DPD? That their only purpose was to arrest the murderer of dozens of innocent employees?

“And we came to a conclusion.” Nadine perked up. “Someone must have leaked software secrets and that made you show up.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Gavin rasped.

Arrington laughed. “Oh, don’t play dumb. You’ve snooped around the building to find the passcodes for my android blueprints and used your android as a decoy. That’s more creative than what the others tried.”

Gavin paused. That wasn’t what they were here for, but maybe playing along would give him some kind of leverage. He frowned instead. Pretending to give up would make them suspicious. “And, did I get close?”

Nadine scoffed. “People like you are the reason the whole building is secure. I have to admit that you played well, but not well enough. Your little machine back there is pretty unstable. Ever thought of replacing it?”

“Why would I replace a perfectly good android?” Gavin hissed at her, then shrugged at Arrington, “How about we make a deal?”

Arrington crossed his arms, still with the gun in his hand. Gavin didn’t like that he wasn’t the one holding it.

“I don’t make deals with spies. Who’re you working for? China? Europe? Russia?”

“Can’t give up my sources now, can I?”

Nadine raised a shoe and rested it on the chair he was sitting on. When she leaned in, she muttered, “Would make it easier to know who to send your corpse to.”

“What you gonna kill me over those blueprints?”

Nadine giggled. A terrifying sound that sent a chill down Gavin’s spine.

“No one walks out of here.” Arrington laughed. “In fact, no one ever did.”

Gavin noticed Cory’s LED spinning a full yellow round before it got back to red. His phone buzzed once, presumably with a message, but the screen stayed dark. Arrington was too focused on his monologue to realize.

“So, I’m not the first guy here?” Gavin wondered aloud, pretending he had no idea.

“Oh, there were dozens. Russian spies, some Chinese. I must say there are significantly few Europeans. They haven’t get understood how interesting androids are.”

“Ah.” Gavin sighed. “And you killed people before?”

Arrington scoffed. “I never killed anyone.” He handed the gun to Nadine who settled the barrel on Gavin’s chest. “Nadine does the killing. Less fingerprints, you know?”

With the gun so close to his vital parts, Gavin felt fear settle in. He had hoped that he could say anything that would get him out of that situation, but this man didn’t seem to care.

“Nadine, how about we take care of the android first?” Arrington suggested, and Gavin’s fear spiked into panic.

Suddenly it didn’t matter what happened to him. He surged against the restraints when Nadine turned away from him and took a step towards Cory.

“Don’t touch him!”

“I won’t touch it.” Nadine laughed. “Just a bullet through the processor. Makes it quick.”

When the shot rang out Gavin screamed, needed long seconds to realize that Nadine had shot into the wall, nowhere near Cory.

“Ah, he’s attached to the bot.” Arrington mocked him. “What are you using it for? Sex?”

“Fuck you!” Gavin screamed at the man, desperately trying to get rid of his restraints.

It was no use. Whoever had tied him up knew how to keep a human in check.

“I wonder if it is attached to you too.” Nadine muttered with a grin that was bordering on creepy when the gun was back on him. This time on his face.

She changed the angle a few times. There was no tremor in her hand, no insecurity. But there was hatred. Her finger on the trigger twitched once, then Gavin’s scream of agony ripped across the room. The had gotten him in the shoulder. Why he had no clue, but through the blazing pain he couldn’t exactly think.

What he saw was just the blur of tears that has sprung into his eyes, and then there was movement. A shriek of a woman, thirium splattering through the room, landing at Gavin’s feet.

When he cleared his vision, he could make up the blur of two androids tearing into each other. Cory’s eyes were wild, teeth bared as he grabbed Nadine’s arm and smashed her into the ground with a growl that was so unlike anything Gavin had ever heard, it made his skin crawl. It sounded like an animal.

Her gun was on the floor, next to Gavin. Cory still had the chains around his wrists and ankles, but they had been ripped from the wall they had been attached to. Plaster and concrete missing from the spots, as if to show how much force the android had put into his escape.

Movement to his side made him flinch, then his air supply was cut off by hands around his throat. He didn’t have time to say anything to Cory. The android was still busy tearing Nadine apart. Literally.

Gavin wasn’t sure he wanted to die with an android head rolling over the floor being the last thing he saw. But then Cory moved away from what remained of Nadine, and his eyes were glowing.

He looked as if something had snapped. For a second Gavin wasn’t even aware that he couldn’t breathe. Then Cory picked up the gun and Gavin wanted to scream, tell him not to kill the human, but the shot rang out before he could get his voice out.

The grip on his throat lessened immediately, fell away then Gavin wanted to yell at the android, but all he could do was cough, gasp for air.

Cory stood in front of him, covered in blue. Some of it was his, no doubt, but most of it was Nadine’s.

“Why did you-“ Gavin rasped, voice cut off by another cough.

Cory opened his mouth to reply, but fell to his knees before he could do anything. He was shaking like a leaf, stared at his hands in absolute horror.

“Hey-“ Gavin hissed. “Eyes on me.”

Cory didn’t budge. Tears spilled from his eyes, dripped into the mess of blue.

“Cory, get me out of this.” Gavin tugged at the rope, but the android still didn’t seem to be aware of what was going on.

“Cory!” Gavin yelled then, voice raw. It jolted the android, and Cory looked up at him. Eyes wide and unseeing. “Cut the rope.”

His system had glitched into a setting, Gavin wasn’t sure which, but the way Cory moved, it didn’t seem to be infrared or night vision. Something else then. He snapped the ropes without much force and Gavin felt stupid as he moved his arms in front of him. He winced when the pain shot up his shoulder. He had almost forgotten that wound.

“Give me-“ Gavin pointed to his phone but Cory had already taken it, handed it to him.

When the detective unlocked the screen, he noticed an active call to the DPD, specifically Fowler’s cellphone. The Captain had heard everything.

“Jeff?” Gavin rasped into the device.

“Tracking your phone. Reinforcements are on the way.”

Gavin only nodded. “…there’s…” He glanced around. Arrington was still alive. Passed out but the shot to his shoulder didn’t look live threatening. Nadine on the other hand was mutilated. “There’s a dead android and an injured perp.”

“Ambulance is on the way. Are you okay?”

Gavin eyed Cory who was standing idly in the room, back to what Nadine used to be. “I’m… okay. Mostly.”

“Cory?”

“…I don’t… he… he killed that android.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end, then fowler cleared his throat. “Okay. We’ll meet you there.”

Cory flinched violently when Gavin dropped the phone to the floor and started to undo the rope around his ankles. “It’s okay. We’ll get this sorted, Cory.”

Cory shook his head, backed away and stepped into the puddle of thirium behind him. He jumped, pulled his shoulders up to his ears. Tears filled his eyes ad he tried not to turn around and face the horrible mess behind him.

“…What… will they do to me now… that…?”

“I’m not sure if that counts as self-defense…” Gavin muttered. “Why’d you snap like that…?”

Cory shook his head again, more violent this time. He brought his hands to his face to stop the tears but only proceeded to smear thirium all over it. A gasp of terror escaped him then.

“I don’t know whatwhatwhat-“ Cory flinched against the glitch.

Gavin slowly stood, careful not to move too fast, in case the injury would prove to me a hindrance, but apart form hurting badly, it wasn’t much of an inconvenience. Not yet at least. Once everything calmed down, he was sure he would feel it.

“Come on.” Gavin tugged on his sleeve and slowly guided him outside. It was a basement, somewhere in the office complex actually.

When they left the office the squad cars were just arriving. There was Fowler and Chris. Ben in the distance, talking to Hank.

Gavin gave Fowler a quick run down of the situation, then tugged Cory towards the police cruiser Chris had arrived in. This didn’t feel like an undercover mission done properly. It was a fucking mess.

And why the fuck had Cory snapped like that? What the hell would that mean for their future? For Cory’s job? Would he get suspended? Arrested? Worse?

It was obvious that the same thoughts were running through Cory’s head, and Gavin wished he had words of comfort, but there was nothing he could say. Nothing he knew to say.

He’d seen cops snap and kill perps out of a knee jerk reaction, but not like this.

Now that he thought about it, it was sickening to watch. Cory looked terrifying like that. But now, seeing the android so shocked by what he did, it almost seemed like an illusion. But there was all the thirium to prove what had just happened.

Connor was running up to them already, eyes wide as he approached Cory and completely ignored Gavin. “Are you okay?”

And Cory just nodded, bowed his head and crawled into the cruiser, as if he was trying to arrest himself.

Connor shared a confused glance with Gavin, then hurried off again when Hank called him over.

Gavin leaned against the open door of the car and sighed. “You’re not a killer, you got that?”

Cory looked at him as if he wanted to tell him he had lost his mind, but Gavin held up a finger, reminding himself not to move the injured shoulder that much. “You saved my life. And whatever happens now, I’m on your side. Okay?”

Cory gave him a small nod. “Okay.”


End file.
